Mystery over the missing £33 million National Lottery jackpot ticket deepened Monday after Camelot said it was urging the public to "keep searching" despite the press outing a 'winner' of the record draw.

The 48-year-old is said to have received begging letters from those desperate to share her good fortune, but now the firm behind the Lottery say players should ignore the reports and continue their search regardless.

Susanne Hinte is reported to have put her winning ticket in the wash

Camelot, which runs Lotto, says that while it does not comment on individual claims, the hunt is not over.

A spokesperson told HuffPost UK on Monday: "We've had a large volume of queries about this prize but we're still encouraging players to continue to search for the ticket.

"People get in touch to double check the numbers, sometimes people present tickets that could be genuine, or sometimes a ticket might only have certain information visible - which is convenient.

"No valid claim has been accepted at this time."

Hinte's home in Worcester, where her daughter spoke to reporters

Remarkably, Natasha Douglas, Hinte's daughter, suggested to the Sun that her mother had never claimed to have won in the first place.